God, Ghosts and other faith based beliefs

My reply to a post in Skullcrusher's creepy movie thread got me thinking about a new thread. I get the feeling most of us here are either religious or spiritual. I personally believe there is a God. But that also makes me believe in the afterlife too. How do you folks feel about this topic: spirituality, afterlife, supernatural, etc.? Any weird stories? Here's one from our household- My wife and I live in a restored 1880 house that's on the National Historic Register. My wife also has a gift that she hasn't quite figured out completely yet. She may dream of someone's death and either it'll be someone else with the same name, or the situation may be incorrect but the person she picked will be correct. One night she sat up in bed and said"would you all just be quiet!" I asked what she was talking about and she said the voices and music in the bedroom was so loud, she couldn't sleep. A few mornings later we wake up and she says to me" would you like me to tell you about our visitor last night?" I said not really She said a little boy about 8 years old was standing next to my side of the bed watching me. We found out later that when the mill was in operation up till the '50's, the ghost of a little boy could be heard running and laughing through the mill buildings, and the machinery would go on and off by itself. Pretty weird!

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In God We Trust. (Everyone else, hands where I can see 'em)

I don't put much stock in the talking to dead people thing or aliens, even if that does happen it doesn't effect me yet. I do LOVE listening to Coast to Coast AM though.

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"This is not about land or money...but the one thing that no man should never be able to take from another man: the freedom to make his own choices about his life, where he'll live, how he'll live, how he'll raise his family. "

I'll preface this by saying that I was raised a Christian, and fully believe in the word of God, and the Gospel of Jesus....

that out of the way, I can't recall anything in the Bible explicitly stating that "ghosts" are an imaginary thing created by man. In fact, I believe that most ghosts and "paranormal" things can be accounted for by none other than Satan, or the minions under his control. No, maybe they're not all Linda Blair, but temptation came in the form of a snake and some fruit....seemingly otherwise benign things....

The Bible does describe exorcisms performed by Christ. These would be things that I could easily see people of non-Christian beliefs being placed on ghosts or demons.

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As for aliens, well, I take a little turn to left-field here:

I believe (and science backs me so far) that the universe is so large, that we have no concept of just how large it is. We have never even found the 'edge' of the universe, if it even exists in the first place.

I have a theory that our God created the heavens (aka, the universe) and the earth (aka, our little speck of dust in the heavens). I believe that while God created man, he may also have created other "men" like beings. After all, why not? Why couldn't/wouldn't God have created several civilizations in the corners of space? Who is to say they know what God is thinking, or has done? Isn't it awfully selfish to think that we're the only form of intelligent life that has EVER existed or will ever exist in this crazy huge place?

(just to clarify, basically what I'm saying is that if there are aliens, which I'm not positive there arent, I believe that God made them just as we were made)

I don't think it's any secret here that I am a Christian and have given my eternal soul to Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that there are spiritual forces at work in this world, both good and evil. Knowing Jesus I don't fear either of them, I've already been spoken for. Gojubrian hit it on the head, open your Bible and spend some time reading.

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If the pain is lacking so is the discipline...

"the only 911 call I need is chambering a round" - Mr. Muller, MO car dealer

I would really like to see a ghost. I think it would totally change my perception on a lot of things in life if I could witness one though I think a ghost could be explained with science perhaps, etched energy, but regardless it would open a new line of thought.

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My reply to a post in Skullcrusher's creepy movie thread got me thinking about a new thread. I get the feeling most of us here are either religious or spiritual. I personally believe there is a God. But that also makes me believe in the afterlife too. How do you folks feel about this topic: spirituality, afterlife, supernatural, etc.?

1. We are not alone. Life exists throughout the Universe. To claim that the Earth is the only place where life exists would be to claim to know the will of God.

2. I don't believe in a "Supreme Being". The Bible claims that we were created in his image would thus imply that ALL life must look like us. I'm not that egotistical. I think life will assume whatever form is necessary to evolve on the billions of worlds where life is capable of existing.

3. If there is a God, why hasn't S/He simply come out and announced His/Her presence? Why all the vague "signs" and "miracles"? Why send your "son" down to do the dirty work?

4. Also, if there is a God, he did a pretty poor job of making us. We're far too fragile, and prone to too many illnesses and diseases. Why did this God create "illness" or "disease" in the first place? Why create emotions like hate, jealousy, envy, greed, avarice, sloth, etc? Why not make life a nice, safe, enjoyable adventure for a couple of decades (or centuries), in which you spend your time reading, writing, painting, sculpting, drawing, learning other languages, etc. All those so-called "intellectual" pursuits, without the fear of sickness, starvation, harm from others, harm from Nature, etc.

5. I don't believe in Heaven or Hell. The thought that what we do during our FINITE lifetime would have an impact on some INFINITE afterlife just doesn't make sense to me; the math is all wrong. For example,

lim (t -> infinity) [Your lifetime]/t = 0

In other words, as time increases, what you did during your life has less and less meaning.

I think the concepts of Heaven and Hell were created solely as a fear tactic to cause people to conform to certain societal norms; step outside those norms, and you will spend ETERNITY IN A FIERY PIT OF DESPAIR!!!! Or, on the other hand, you can do the right thing and have 72 virgins waiting for you in Paradise, as soon as you blow up a dozen or so infidels, along with yourself.

6. It deeply offends my sense of fairness to believe the we have just ONE shot at life. There are some very good people who die early or from horrible illnesses, while some very bad people live the "good life" for decades.

I'm more a believer of parallel universes, and thus in one Universe I'm living the good life of a multimillionaire brain surgeon, while in another Universe I'm doing life in prison for genocide (and all possibilities in between).

7. Barring the "Many Worlds" scenario, then I believe in a more karmic existence, in which we live over and over, with specific lessons that must be learned during each lifetime in order to progress to a higher form of existence. Think of it in terms of "school"; LOTS of grade levels that you must successfully master before you graduate, and then you move into "the real world", with its entirely new set of rules and lessons. Does it ever really end?

8. I don't believe in ghosts or the supernatural, or people like John Edward who claims to speak with the dead. I need more than anecdotal evidence, and Edward is nothing but a huckster doing cold reads. Really, if there is an afterlife, why are you hanging around? Doesn't God have some plan for you besides you running around an old building, making chairs move and light turn on and off?

How's that? How many of you did I truly offend? Not that any of it matters; we'll find out the TRUTH soon enough, when our time comes, no matter what we might happen to believe. And no, I'm not worried about not having accepted Christ as my Savior - the majority of the world hasn't either, and they ALL can't be wrong, can they?

[If you said "yes" to that last bit, isn't that a little presumptuous and egotistical of you, that YOU got "it" right, while the Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, Sun Worshipers, Animists, etc., got "it" wrong?]